


Wait it Out (Not Gonna Settle)

by Joanna_Kay



Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Mixed Race Relationship, Overprotective Father, accusations of racism (unfounded), persistance, southern hospitality etiquette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:14:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29761557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joanna_Kay/pseuds/Joanna_Kay
Summary: Judd Ryder asks Grace Williams' father for her hand in marriage. It doesn't go quite as he wanted.
Relationships: Grace Ryder/Judd Ryder (9-1-1 Lone Star)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 35
Collections: Fan Fiction Library (Discord) Challenge #1: 20 Prompts





	Wait it Out (Not Gonna Settle)

**Author's Note:**

> This is un-beta'd but I have gone through it with spellcheck and grammar check, so please excuse any mistakes.
> 
> This is a response to two separate Discord server event challenges. The first, from Fanfiction Library, was to embed the dialogue: “You never cease to amaze me.” The second, from Fanfiction HW, was simply: Time.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

As Judson Ryder, affectionately known as Judd, sat in his truck and stared at the surprisingly imposing house, he remembered the day that he first saw the woman he wanted to be his wife.It had been one of those seminars that all fire stations had to go through, as much as they hated them. In this particular one, A select group of firefighters and paramedics from Station 126 had headed over to the University of Texas to give a presentation to some of the students in an effort to lure them over to Austin Emergency Services.

The presentations for colleges were always met with groans. Strictly speaking, pretty much anyone interested in working in the field had already done their own research and were working towards their own goals. 

It was a far cry from the favorite presentations: going into grade schools or being tour guide for any field trips over to them. 

Station 126 had a very set way of picking who would be dealing with any of those presentations, whether they were for kids or adults. Drawing straws. In the case of the first, short straws had lost and had to head over to campus, slightly mollified that they would be bought a round of drinks in commiseration. In the case of the second, long straw won and had to buy a round for everyone.

That bright day in March, Judd and his fellow short strawer, Chuck Parkland, arrived on the sprawling, bustling campus and made their way to one of the smaller auditoriums. Neither man was comfortable with being there, Especially Parkland, as he was only there because the other person scheduled to go had a family emergency.

As expected, the auditorium was only about a quarter full, most of the people there were vaguely familiar faces.

It made Grace Williams stand out. 

Judd still remembered that moment, trim figure in jeans and a white shirt that made her dark skin glow, pearly whites flashing as she laughed at something her companion said.

In that instant, he was gone.

He didn’t remember much of the lecture, running through the points and presentation by rote and leaving the majority of the question and answer section to Chuck.

He did remember her coming up to them afterwards, standing just a bit shorter than him, a bit too close. She had asked for further information about where she might put the psychology degree to use in AES, explaining that her parents were pushing for her to have a nice, cushy office and a private practice but that she just couldn’t see that for herself, not now.

To his embarrassment, Judd had blanked and stuttered, sounding like the stereotypical idiot redneck from Seguin. He had tried hard to put that behind him once he’d moved out of the town split between ranching and manufacturing, but being faced with Grace Williams, it all came back. He’d scrawled his number on a piece of scrap paper and handed it over, telling her to call if she had any more questions.

He completely forgot about the AES pamphlets they had to give out to those interested, pamphlets emblazoned with website urls and department phone numbers. Instead, he gave out his personal cell phone number.

He’d gotten a fair amount of ribbing from his station brothers for that.

All the teasing in the world had been worth it when an unknown caller had popped up on his phone two days later. Answering it, he was pleasantly surprised to find Grace on the other end, having just finished a class and having done some research. Directing her to the proper site, he was disappointed that she wouldn’t be calling again.

She had pointed out to him that she could’ve found that out on her own and laughed at his confusion. She had called hoping that him giving her his personal number was a blatant hint of his interest.

They went on their first date the next day, Judd mercifully just off a 24 hour shift, and neither had looked back.

Now, though…

Now, Judd was staring up at the white clapboard home that housed his greatest adversary.

“What are you doing here, boy?” was called from the white porch, causing Judd to clench his teeth.

The youngest of four boys and often judged by his older brothers, both in good and bad ways. Growing up, he had always been ‘that youngest Ryder boy’ and had people keeping sharp eyes on him, watching for a stumble of fumble. The fact that Benjamin Williams continued to do so, rarely even acknowledging his proper name, was just one more thing about the man that struck in his craw.

Climbing out of his truck, Judd raised a hand in a wave before crossing to the opposite door and pulling out a small bakery cake. It was nothing special, but the last time he had shown up empty handed with Grace, it had not been a good thing.

“Afternoon, Mr. Williams.” Making his way up the few steps to the tiny porch, he passed the cake to Denice, pressing a light kiss on her cheek in greeting. As cold as Benjamin had been to him, Judd was extremely thankful for his level-headed wife who had welcomed him as a part of her daughter’s life.

If Judd had his way, he’d be leaving here with the potential of being a lot more than Grace’s boyfriend.

Sitting on the tiny porch, balancing a glass of sweet tea in one hand and a small plate with a slice of cake in the other, Judd finally, finally broached the subject that he had been visiting for.

“Not in a month of Sundays, boy!”

Judd flinched at the suddenly, unexpectedly raised voice. “What?”

“The Devil will be ice skating’ in hell before you marry my Gracie, boy.”

“Ben.” 

“I didn’t give you leave to call me by my given name, Ryder.”

“Mr. Williams,” he tried again. “I know that I’m a bit older than Grace.”

“Too old,” the black man snorted, leaning back in his chair and glaring at his visitor. “But your age doesn’t have much to do with why I’m sayin’ no.”

“Grace doesn’t think so,” Judd pointed out, internally wincing. That wasn’t going to score him any points.

“I love my daughter but she doesn’t always know what’s good for her.”

“I’m good for her.” The response was mild, non-confrontational.

“My daughter doesn’t need to tie herself to a redneck from Seguin.”

“I may be from Sequin and I may be workin’ class, but I’m no redneck, Mr. Williams.”

“You’re a white boy from Texas, Ryder, and that firehouse you work at is just a typical Good Ole Boys club. You are who you surround yourself with.”

“In some cases, sure,” he easily agreed. “But I also choose to have Grace in my life. That should tell you something.” The only response was a grunt and a gimlet eyed stare.

“Go on, get out of here, boy.”

Judd acquiesced, nodding to the older couple before making his way to his truck. He hadn’t gotten the answer he wanted, but he’d gotten the one he expected. This was just the opening salvo; he fully intended on continuing to show up at the Williams’ home until he got the answer he was looking for.

After all, his daddy had raised him as a proper Southern boy. You don’t marry a woman without her daddy’s blessing.

*

After the seventh such visit, Judd showed up with a bunch of lumber in the back of his truck. If he was going to be relegated to sitting outside in the Texas heat, it was at least going to be on a porch deck that was larger than a postage stamp. As he began his work, tearing down the old structure and beginning to build the new one, he was forced to listen to the Williams patriarch complaining that he and Denice were going to be forced to go in and out the back door for the duration. It was quickly followed by a critique of Judd’s build, from the lumber he’d purchased to the nails he was using to the posts he drove into the dry ground.

Throughout it was comments that he hadn’t asked Judd to do this and there was no way he was paying him for it and that it looked like Judd was practised with manual labor. The latter was pointed out as yet another reason he wasn’t good enough for Grace. His daughter was going to college for psychology and was going to be a doctor. Judd wondered just how much Benjamin actually talked to his daughter. Grace had never expressed much interest in working in a private practice.

It was slow going, Judd snatching a few hours here and there as work and Grace allowed. She still didn’t know that he was making the journey to her parents on a regular basis, having gone from one a week to at least twice but more often three or four now that he had a project. Those days he didn’t visit in person, he still called, ignoring the fact that he was hung up on more often than not. Judd found it easier to deal with the comments, veiled insults, and not so veiled insults now that he had something to keep his hands busy.

That Judd’s ongoing visits to the Williams home had led to the first major argument between him and Grace was irony at its finest.

Grace hadn’t been impressed with Judd seemingly randomly disappearing for increasingly long hours for weeks at a time, particularly when she asked him about it and he had changed the subject after assuring her it was nothing important - multiple times. She had then asked at the station house and met a long line of tight-lipped men. They knew his plans, half of them had even seen the ring he was hoping to give her, and all of them had been involved in some good-natured ribbing, as expected from the unofficial family. Not a single one was actually going to spoil his plans.

Plans he was fully ready to solidify and continue once he actually managed to get through to a stubborn old man that he wasn’t planning on breaking his daughter’s heart.

(What Grace’s parents had said to her, Judd had no idea. He didn’t even know what they had said about why they were getting a brand new deck or who was building it.)

The deck itself took Judd much more time than he had anticipated. Refusing any help, what he had initially expected to be the job of a month or month and a half had stretched from spring throughout summer and into fall. It would have been a lot more frustrating if he hadn’t noticed Benjamin Williams start to thaw a bit in his direction. Not a huge amount, but the old man had taken to sitting just inside the open front door while he read the paper or a book, idly chatting aloud. He showed up with cold glasses of ice water or sweet tea, admonishing Judd to make sure he kept cool or the women would take it out of his hide.

When the deck was finally finished, stained dark against the elements, Judd was loading his toolbox into the back of his truck when there was the sound of a throat being cleared behind him. He turned to find Benjamin standing a few feet away. A couple feet beyond him stood Denice, the old woman smiling at the man who had quickly wormed his way closer. That Judd continued to show up and be polite even when stonewalled and that he had, without fail, always shown up with something as was proper for a Southern guest of the house, had gone a long way towards softening the woman.

The fact that Grace and Denice had always been close and that Grace confided in her mother during weekly visits and numerous phone calls hadn't hurt either.

Judd raised a brow at Benjamin, silently urging him to say whatever he was going to say. Now that the deck was done, Judd needed to figure out how else to try to get into the man’s good graces. Treating Grace like she was something precious obviously hadn’t helped him out much.

“I s’pose you’re going to have to start calling me Ben.”

“Sir?”

“Can’t have my son-in-law callin’ me Mr. Williams, can I?”

Judd swallowed heavily, feeling the sudden urge to cry or shout to the heavens or something to show how grateful and relieved he was. Instead, he nodded tightly, holding out his hand to the man for a firm handshake. It was followed by Denice moving forward to give him a kiss on his cheek before shooing him into his truck and back to Austin.

He had a diamond ring burning a hole in his pocket and a proposal to plan.

A week later, Judd got down on one knee in a nice restaurant, not the fanciest that Austin had to offer, but a favorite of both of them. Ignoring the dirty carpet, he focused solely on the woman sitting before him, dark eyes bright with unshed tears as she nodded frantically, falling to kneel in front of him to press a kiss against his lips.

It was later that night, after a teary phone call from Grace to her parents, that Judd admitted to what he’d been up to.

“You never cease to amaze me.” She leant into him, cuddling close and making his head spin with her perfume.

“I had time. I’m not going anywhere without you by my side, darlin’.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it!
> 
> Any feedback is appreciated!


End file.
